My name is Austin im new to the group and need some guidance im new to all of this so be easy on me, i had the bright idea of building a portable bluetooth speaker and just started ordering stuff on impulse with no plan or anything so i currently have 2 Grs 3” fullrange drivers 4ohm 20watts max and 2 6.5” polly cone midbass woofers from parts exspress there 40 watts rms i havent got an amp yet but question is can i use all of these speakers and make them sound decent if so what do i need to make thst happen cross over, filter or what ever id like to be able to just buy somthing pre assembled and throw it in cross overs just thinking about them gives me a headache or do I need to start from scratch and if so a good cheap combo of speakers that would make a decent bluetooth speaker with some decent bass thanks in advance.
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Hello Austin, welcome.
Just name which loudspeakers did you buy exactly?
You want to build your own Bluetooth speaker?
Is it Mono or Stereo? Bluetooth is usually mono.
Just name which loudspeakers did you buy exactly?
You want to build your own Bluetooth speaker?
Is it Mono or Stereo? Bluetooth is usually mono.
Hmmmm...BT is stereo! Nowadays...
I remember myself in 1990: I had the same questions of our new member. Ideally I would make a backpack full of electronics and batteries and eventually speakers.
The fact is that I've just made one now, 34 years after. Cost me nothing, just working on the subwoofer part, which needs a cart!
The electronics come from a BT soundbar, and I use the 18V battery of my electric screwdriver. I think it puts 15 W on each channel, more for the subwoofer amp.
I discovered that I needed 8Ω speakers for the 'satellites' because: the amplifier is demanded to put more power on 4Ω load, and the speaker sucks all the power! Which isn't needed, the bass slam, because of the subwoofer.
So you'll come to the conclusion that the transduction stage, the speakers, are the most important part and they deserve a lot of thinking. 3 way speakers + subwoofer are a hard thing to go around with.
I remember myself in 1990: I had the same questions of our new member. Ideally I would make a backpack full of electronics and batteries and eventually speakers.
The fact is that I've just made one now, 34 years after. Cost me nothing, just working on the subwoofer part, which needs a cart!
The electronics come from a BT soundbar, and I use the 18V battery of my electric screwdriver. I think it puts 15 W on each channel, more for the subwoofer amp.
I discovered that I needed 8Ω speakers for the 'satellites' because: the amplifier is demanded to put more power on 4Ω load, and the speaker sucks all the power! Which isn't needed, the bass slam, because of the subwoofer.
So you'll come to the conclusion that the transduction stage, the speakers, are the most important part and they deserve a lot of thinking. 3 way speakers + subwoofer are a hard thing to go around with.
Welcome, Austin. I think you will need to provide a little bit more information for everyone to help you out. I just have a few questions and maybe I can point you in the right direction.
1) What form-factor Bluetooth speaker are you wanting to build? For example, something like a portable boombox or a compact speaker you can toss in a bag and take to the beach. Maybe give us an example of a build or commercial Bluetooth speaker you saw somewhere that you’d like to emulate or take inspiration from. Dimensions would be helpful as well.
2) What materials do you plan on using to build your speaker? MDF? Wood?
3) What is your level of expertise in electronics?
For a first time build, I’d consider going with one of the Dayton Audio Bluetooth speaker kits from Parts Express. There are a lot of tutorials out there for these kits that will be helpful to you.
Here’s a link:
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-MKBoom-Portable-Bluetooth-Speaker-Kit-300-7166?quantity=1
Now the following advice adds a level of complexity to your project, but I’ll share my insight to save you from some of the headaches I’ve faced along the way. From my experience, when it comes to smaller Bluetooth speakers, you’ll find the biggest challenge to overcome is a lack of space. It can be increasingly difficult to fit the amplifier(s), Bluetooth module, battery pack, passive crossovers, etc. in such a small space. What I found is that it’s best to avoid using passive crossovers and external Bluetooth modules in a portable Bluetooth speaker. An amp with built-in Bluetooth and an integrated DSP is your best bet. The reason I say this is because you can use digital crossovers in the DSP and add things like dynamic bass to get the most out of your speakers. I’d recommend looking into Wondom/Dayton Audio products like the JAB3+/KABD-230. Another good option is TinySine. I believe they have some decent amplifiers with integrated Bluetooth and DSP. I’d also recommend using passive radiators to get more bass in a smaller form-factor. Bass ports are generally not a viable option on smaller, portable speakers. In terms of “good, better, best,” I’d say all of these suggestions will get you somewhere between “better” and “best.” I’d definitely recommend doing a lot of research on these topics before blindly ordering parts though.
Here are links for the amplifiers I referenced:
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayto...uetooth-Amp-Board-with-DSP-325-106?quantity=1
https://www.tinyosshop.com/tsa7802b
Cheers!
1) What form-factor Bluetooth speaker are you wanting to build? For example, something like a portable boombox or a compact speaker you can toss in a bag and take to the beach. Maybe give us an example of a build or commercial Bluetooth speaker you saw somewhere that you’d like to emulate or take inspiration from. Dimensions would be helpful as well.
2) What materials do you plan on using to build your speaker? MDF? Wood?
3) What is your level of expertise in electronics?
For a first time build, I’d consider going with one of the Dayton Audio Bluetooth speaker kits from Parts Express. There are a lot of tutorials out there for these kits that will be helpful to you.
Here’s a link:
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-MKBoom-Portable-Bluetooth-Speaker-Kit-300-7166?quantity=1
Now the following advice adds a level of complexity to your project, but I’ll share my insight to save you from some of the headaches I’ve faced along the way. From my experience, when it comes to smaller Bluetooth speakers, you’ll find the biggest challenge to overcome is a lack of space. It can be increasingly difficult to fit the amplifier(s), Bluetooth module, battery pack, passive crossovers, etc. in such a small space. What I found is that it’s best to avoid using passive crossovers and external Bluetooth modules in a portable Bluetooth speaker. An amp with built-in Bluetooth and an integrated DSP is your best bet. The reason I say this is because you can use digital crossovers in the DSP and add things like dynamic bass to get the most out of your speakers. I’d recommend looking into Wondom/Dayton Audio products like the JAB3+/KABD-230. Another good option is TinySine. I believe they have some decent amplifiers with integrated Bluetooth and DSP. I’d also recommend using passive radiators to get more bass in a smaller form-factor. Bass ports are generally not a viable option on smaller, portable speakers. In terms of “good, better, best,” I’d say all of these suggestions will get you somewhere between “better” and “best.” I’d definitely recommend doing a lot of research on these topics before blindly ordering parts though.
Here are links for the amplifiers I referenced:
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayto...uetooth-Amp-Board-with-DSP-325-106?quantity=1
https://www.tinyosshop.com/tsa7802b
Cheers!
All of your recommendations are gold, but the offer is also in the 2.1 form, so you can focus on one powerful subwoofer which should occupy less space...Well, it depends: in general I hate the subwoofer as a rule, but phisically you really can't stress too much a fullrange speaker. In my case, I made a mistake and one of the 2" got the cone detatched from the surround! What a pity! Because they weren't filtered ( a 100 Hz high pass would have been beneficial). But they were some sophisticaded 1.5 mm stroke fullrange.
Hmm okay, electronic aside, the presence of the subwoofer is often fastidious. But also the treble, that's why it might be better to use a fullrange instead of WT or WMT or whatever your beautiful minds may conceive. Indeed, after 30 minutes of listening to BT systems, my attention get focused on what of the original sound is missed and it's an on/off.
But also an ol' tone control or the ol' 5 way equalizer that appeared on most of ....boomboxes!
You say that now ( 20 years ago...) you can program the DSP to operate like a compressor and insert bass loudness gradually at low volume etc. Spatialize the treble, auralize, enlarge the scene -'coz it's well known that BT boxes are used for auditioning to theatre recordings ah ah ah!